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The Ups and Downs and Not Eating

by Mary Stella on January 29, 2013

Delight over my one year checkup, progress and the upcoming Hawaii trip aside, there have been some tough times in the last four or five days too. Without going into specifics, suffice it to say that I’ve dealt with some sad events, some aggravating situations, intermittent stress and what not. In other words, life. The major difference is in how I deal with the ebbs and flows of happenings and the not-always-cheery emotions they engender.

I’m not eating over them. Even more amazing is that I’m not struggling to not eat over them. Amazing is not too strong a word for this realization. You’ve heard me talk often enough about the massive quantities of food that I used to eat. Not using food to cope is such an improvement, I think it’s equally massive. Being so relaxed about it is also impressing me.

Honestly, I didn’t even think about this until just now. That’s how natural and relaxed the new behavior is to me tonight.

I had a fairly stressful day at work with a couple of big aggravations. I’m capable of working under pressure. I just knuckle down, focus and get it done. That doesn’t mean that having to do so doesn’t stress me out. In the past, I’d usually coped by eating while I worked and then making poor food choices for the rest of the day at home.

Tonight, I left work, drove home to let out the dogs and pay the boat mechanice. I then changed into my workout clothes and went to Zumba. Once I got home, I went calmly went about the business of getting dinner — on my food plan in the appropriate quantities — eating, and easing into the evening.

No going back for seconds. No cramming food into my mouth to stuff down the stress. No diving into sugars or carbs for the sedative effects. I cruised the ups and downs and dealt with them without compulsive eating. I’m not always perfect, but I believe I’m seeing more days like this and that’s a terrific improvement. I’m glad that I noticed. It’s important to acknowledge my progress so that I can build on it again and again as I travel forward.

I’m glad you noticed too. It’s so easy to not notice. And acknowledging progress spurs further progress. It’s a great thing that you didn’t even think to eat away the stress. You are doing so fabulously.